740 



GLEANINGS IN REE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15. 



moved and sound fruits brought forward. With- 

 in twenty minutes the bees had left in dis- 

 gust." — American Bee Journal. 



Pjbof. Cook reports in American Bee Jour- 

 nal that a little beetle imported from Australia, 

 a red and black lady-bird, Novius [Nedalia] car- 

 dinalis, has within two years almost entirely 

 banished the white scale from the fruit-groves 

 of California. He is hopeful that the black 

 scale may also be brought to time by means of 

 another importation, a little black lady-bird, 

 Rhizobius ventraiis. 



Don't THINK of keeping unfinished sections 

 to use next year without having them thor- 

 oughly cleaned out this fall, and by the bees. 

 If you extract them, let the bees clean them 

 out afterward. See to this right away. Let 

 the bees work on them for a few days after 

 they have the honpy emptied. The least gran- 

 ule of honey left will spoil them for use next 

 season. 



I HAVE about 700 colonies in the bean fields. 

 The honey, when thoroughly ripened, has no 

 superior, both in color and flavor; but if taken 

 off green or partly so, it sours in a very short 

 time. The sage I can take off when about two- 

 thirds or nearly capped, but the bean honey 

 has to be well capped, and then left upon the 

 hive for a time, for safety.— M. H. Mendleson, 

 in Pacific Bee Journal. 



To AVOID having combs torn by the bees 

 when getting them to clean out unfinished sec- 

 tions, use one of two ways: Put out the whole 

 lot entirely open, so the bees will have free 

 access to all parts. But don't do that unless 

 you have a big lot of sections— perhaps ten or 

 more for each colony. If you have too few sec- 

 tions' or too many bees, pile two to five supers 

 of sections in a pile, and close all up tight ex- 

 cept one entrance large enough for one bee at 

 a time. 



AT WHAT AGE WILL BEES FIRST GATHER 

 STORES 1 



By F. Greincr. 



Will bees ever go oat in search of food before 

 being from 14 to 18 days old ? 



On this question authorities are as yet divid- 

 ed. Dr. Miller says yes; Vogel, of Germany, 

 no. Of course, one of the two must be wrong. 

 In the Blenenzeitung of 1891 Vogel had a long 

 article in which he showed that bees, less than 

 18 days old, would sooner starve than go out in 

 search of food. I was inclined lo think he was 

 right, not knowing the reasons that l^d Dr. 

 Miller to arrive at his conclusion. I?ut the 



more I thought of it, the more uncertain I be- 

 came. Dr. M. would have spoken his proverb- 

 ial " I don't know " if he had not had conclu- 

 sive evidence. I concluded, and so I decided 

 to settle the question to my own satisfaction; 

 for it seems, although we may read and 

 study the ablest written articles giving the 

 best of proof, nothing convinces us quicker or 

 so thoroughly and lastingly as what we have 

 seen with our own eyes. Seeing is not only be- 

 lieving but knowing. I will now tell the reader 

 what I found out. 



In order to see how young a bee would work 

 in the field I thought it necessary to form a 

 colony out of all just hatching bees. So, on the 

 4th of June I look four nice clean combs, all 

 worker size, and gave them to as many different 

 colonies, placing them in the center of their 

 respective brood nests. On the 25th of June I 

 collected them again, placing them in a previ- 

 ously and especially prepared chamber with 

 wire-screen bottom, setting the whole over a 

 very populous colony, quilts and cushion re- 

 moved. In this way, and by means of hot soap- 

 stones on top, and wrapping all in blankets, I 

 tried to keep the temperature up to the desired 

 point so the brood and bees would not suffer 

 either way. When I placed these brood-combs 

 in the above-named chamber, some bees had 

 already commenced hatching from them; on 

 the :;;sth of June quite a number of bees had 

 gathered, forming a regular cluster. I gave 

 them then a new and somewhat isolated loca- 

 tion, and for a fly-hole I opened a previously 

 bored -^^-inch hole, being about 2 inches above 

 the bottom-board. The oldest bees in this little 

 colony were now just three days old; but not 

 one came out, not even peeped out that after- 

 noon, although the sun shone warm. The next 

 afternoon a very few bees showed themselves; 

 some few specked up the outside of the hive a 

 very little around the fly-hole; but not one at- 

 tempted to fly off. The next day, at 3 o'clock 

 in the afternoon (June 30) the oldest bees being 

 then just five days old. there was suddenly a 

 commotion, to be noticed from quite a distance. 

 I was at my post in a minute. Quite a number 

 of bees were flying off and kept flying, apparent- 

 ly in for a play, and, judging from the specking 

 the previous day. perhaps for a cleansing flight. 

 This lasted some 15 or 20 minutes. Then things 

 became quiet again. Then, all at once, I 

 imagined seeing a bee slipping into the en- 

 trance-hole, carrying a tiny load of pollen. The 

 b(-e disappeared from my sight so quickly I 

 could not be certain; while meditating and 

 wondering wheiher it really could be, another 

 boi- struck the little % inch entrance-hole, but 

 also disappeared quickly. Several more bees 

 came in the same fashion; and, although I was 

 as attentive as I could be, I was still undecided 

 wheiher there had been pollen in any of their 

 pollen-baskets, the loads ihey carried being so 



